Tamara Taggart: Cancer cover girl

Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun01.27.2014

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency. Photo courtesy Kyrani Kanavaros/Klik Photographic

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency.Mark van Manen
/ PNG

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency.Kyrani Kanavaros
/ PNG

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency.Mark van Manen
/ PNG

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency. With from left to right, Dave Genn (husband), children Beckett (6), Zoe (5), and Poppy (3).Kyrani Kanavaros
/ Klik Photographic

CTV anchor Tamara Taggart opens up about her battle with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer which is now in remission, thanks to successful surgery which removed a huge tumour from her small intestines and a fairly new costly drug supplied by the BC Cancer Agency. Photo courtesy Kyrani Kanavaros/Klik Photographic

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Tamara Taggart is the cover girl for a B.C. magazine that debuted this month.

The CTV news anchor wishes the BC Cancer Foundation hadn’t had a reason to request her story for the first issue of Forward, its patient empowerment publication. But as a cancer survivor who’s just passed the second anniversary of a brush with death, she couldn’t say no.

“I can definitely say it’s not the magazine cover I dreamed I’d be on. I hesitated, initially, because just even saying the word cancer is still hard for me. Not many people know I’ve even gone through this experience,” she said in an interview.

Taggart, 45, had a rare gastrointestinal stromal tumour, commonly called GIST in the medical community.

Since the tumour was removed, she’s been taking a drug that has revolutionized the care of patients like her. If she’d developed the cancer more than a decade ago — before the arrival of drugs known as targeted biologic therapies — her doctors told her she’d be dead.

For several months in 2011, before the cancer was diagnosed, Taggart had its common symptoms: fatigue and anemia. But doctors didn’t discover the source of her problem until the fist-sized tumour adhered to her small intestines ruptured. She nearly bled to death.

The day it burst, in January 2012, she had the worst headache of her life. She vomited and passed out in the bathroom at work, on a day she was meant to be celebrating the first anniversary of her start as Mike Killeen’s co-anchor on the 6 p.m. news. She went home. Her husband would later call an ambulance.

The tumour had been growing inside Taggart for about two years. It was originally missed by a radiologist after a CT scan that she had for kidney stones.

Despite the delay in a diagnosis and the missed diagnosis by the radiologist — who has apologized — Taggart’s not bitter.

“I was upset for 24 hours when I learned the tumour was visible on a scan I had in 2010. When I met the radiologist again, I told him ‘I need you to know that I hated you for 24 hours.’ But he was looking at my kidneys for kidney stones. Only when he was asked to go back and look at the scan again did he see a tumour in my small intestines.

“I wished he would have seen it initially, but I also wished none of this had ever happened. But it did, and now I want other patients to be aware that when something doesn’t feel right in their bodies, we have to be our own best advocates.”

Fortunately, one of the world’s leading experts on gastrointestinal stromal tumours, Dr. Charles Blanke, was at the BC Cancer Agency when Taggart was taken to Vancouver General Hospital. He has since moved to Portland, Oregon, but Taggart still emails him with questions and she’s confident in her new oncologist.

Blanke pioneered the research and use of a life-saving drug called Gleevec for gastrointestinal stromal tumour patients. Taggart is on the generic version now, but when she was she was first prescribed the daily medication, it cost $6,000 a month. It was paid for by the cancer agency.

“People like to complain about the health care system, and it’s not perfect, but boy, when you need it for something so urgent, it’s there. And the medical and nursing care is unbelievable,” says Taggart.

Studies have shown that half of patients with large tumours like Taggart’s will develop another one if they don’t take the drug after surgery. Taking the drug cuts chances of that to 25 per cent. Taggart says she expects to be on the drug for three years and, depending on results of still-to-be published research, perhaps as long as five years.

Followup care involves blood tests every three months and a CT scan every six months.

Like most cancer survivors, Taggart has bleak days, especially when she worries about her young children, ages three, five and six. Her oldest has Down syndrome.

“The idea of not being there for them was more than I could ever fathom,” she says, adding she’s happy her children are so far oblivious to her cancer experience. Taggart says she and her husband, Dave Genn, of 54-40 rock band fame, will tell them details of her near-death experience when they’re older.

For now, she’s sticking to telling them bedtime stories — about fairies, fantasies and innocent adventures that never once mention the “C” word.

And although she was hesitant about becoming a cover girl for Forward magazine, she’s glad she did it. Telling her story proved therapeutic.

“It takes the weight of the world off your shoulders when you share common experiences, including those about cancer.”

Forward, a new magazine produced by the BC Cancer Foundation, explores mind, body and spirit issues faced by people living with, and beyond, cancer. Angela Wilson, communications manager for the cancer agency, said survivors will be featured on every cover. To subscribe to the free magazine, go to bccancer.bc.ca/PPI/AfterCancer.htm

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours and how they are treated

The tumour

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (often referred to as GIST) are masses of abnormal connective tissue in the gastrointestinal tract.

These tumours can grow anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract, from the esophagus to the anus. Most happen in the stomach; a few (including Tamara Taggart’s) occur in the small intestine or other sites in the tract. They have the potential to spread to other body parts and organs like the liver.

These tumours are rare, believed to affect only 15 out every one million people. Improved diagnostics mean more are being spotted, and advances in treatment in the past 15 years means the tumours are killing fewer people.

Diagnosis

There is no screening test for these tumours. Many are found as a byproduct of imaging tests or surgeries done for other problems.

Some are diagnosed based on symptoms, mainly anemia from internal bleeding caused by the tumour. Nausea, vomiting and weight loss are other common symptoms.

Treatment

Surgery to remove the tumour is the typical first treatment. Then patients at higher risk of relapse go on drug therapy.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours do not respond to conventional chemotherapy or radiation but a drug called imatinib (better known by the trade name Gleevec) has revolutionized treatment and has been used for the past decade to prevent tumours from coming back. The drug, most commonly used to treat leukemia, targets the genetic mutations underlying gastrointestinal stromal tumours and helps prevent tumour growth by inhibiting the proteins that drive its cells to multiply.

Up to 20 per cent of patients do not respond to the drug, how­ever, and nearly half may develop resistance to it. The good news is that other life-saving or life-prolonging drugs are now available if that happens and doctors are optimistic that many patients will have normal life expectancies.

The future

One of the world’s leading authorities on these tumours is oncologist Charles Blanke, a former BC Cancer Agency executive. He is now practising in Portland, Oregon, where he focuses solely on gastrointestinal stromal tumours. He does U.S.-government-funded research and treats patients from around the world.

Although the five-year survival rate from these tumours ranges from 28 to 60 per cent, depending on where a patient lives, Blanke said existing and emerging therapies offer the prospect of making such tumours a controllable, chronic condition, much like high blood pressure.

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Tamara Taggart: Cancer cover girl

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